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Joshua 4:15

in Joshua 4

Then the LORD said to Joshua,

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

And Jehovah spake unto Joshua, saying,

KJV

And the Lord spake unto Joshua, saying,

This verse in Joshua 4

Commentary

5 notes on this verse
The passage of the priests to the further bank had been already referred to, Jos 4:11; but the writer, in observance of his general plan (compare introductory remarks to Josh. 3), re-introduces it here as the leading feature in the concluding section of his account, and (as before) with mention of God’s special direction about it. The statement that on the removal of the ark the waters of Jordan at once returned to their former level Jos 4:18, heightens the impression which is especially inculcated throughout - that the whole transaction was extraordinary and miraculous.

This site's exposition

the Lord magnified Joshua

on Joshua 4:14-15

Joshua 3:7 promised this before the crossing, that the Lord would begin to magnify him in the sight of all Israel, and verse 14 reports it done on the day named. The comparison is exact. Exodus 14:31 says that after the sea the people believed the Lord and his servant Moses, and the same sentence is now written about Joshua after a river, so the successor is confirmed by the same kind of act that confirmed the man he follows.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

And the Lord spake unto Joshua,.... When all the people had passed over jordan: saying; as follows.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

How low a condition soever God may at any time bring his priests or people to, let them patiently wait, till by his providence he shall call them up out of it, as the priests here were called to come up out of Jordan, and let them not be weary of waiting, while they have the tokens of God's presence with them, even the ark of the covenant, in the depth of their adversity.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

On that day the Lord magnified Joshua in the sight of all Israel--It appeared clear from the chief part he acted, that he was the divinely appointed leader; for even the priests did not enter the river or quit their position, except at his command; and thenceforward his authority was as firmly established as that of his predecessor.

The words behind it

5 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיֹּ֣אמֶרand he said

    vaiyomerH5595305 times

  • יְהוָ֔הYahweh

    yahwehH30686520 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H4135510 times

  • יְהוֹשֻׁ֖עַJoshua

    yehoshua'H3091218 times

  • לֵאמֹֽר׃<to> saying

    lemorH5595305 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

About Joshua

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.